VATICAN CITY, NOV 7, 2002 (VIS) – On Thursday in the Paul VI Hall, the
Holy Father welcomed 700 participants in the 17th annual international
conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Pastoral
Ministry. The three-day conference began today in the Vatican on the theme
“The Identity of Catholic Health Care Institutions.”
The Pope said that this theme “has great importance for the life and
mission of the Church” as she has “always associated assistance to and care
of the sick … with the proclamation of the Good News.” He noted that many
of the “saints of charity and hospitality, such as St. Camillus de Lellis,
St. John of God, and Vincent de Paul” founded institutions for the sick
which were precursors of modern hospitals. Catholic health care
institutions, he added, are “the Church's answer in solidarity and charity
to the mandate of the Lord Who sent the 12 Apostles to announce the Kingdom of God and heal the sick.”
Pope John Paul thanked the participants for their “efforts to give a new
stimulus to the International Federation of Catholic Hospitals, a valid
body for answering in an ever better fashion the many questions faced by
those who work in the world of health on many fronts.”
“To completely understand the identity of (Catholic) health care
institutions,” stated the Holy Father, “we need to go to the heart of what
the Church is, where the supreme law is love. Catholic health institutions
thus become privileged witnesses to the charity of the Good Samaritan
because, in caring for the sick, we fulfill the Lord's will and contribute
to realizing the Kingdom of God. In this way they express their true
ecclesial identity.”
“In the Apostolic Letter 'Novo millennio ineunte', John Paul II said, “I
recalled all those who are lacking even the most elementary medical care.
The Church looks at these brothers and sisters of ours with particular
concern.”
He expressed the hope that “Catholic health care institutions and public
ones might efficaciously collaborate, united in the common desire to serve
man, especially the weakest and those who in fact are not supported socially.”
(This article courtesy of Vatican Information Service.)
